A loud ringing ran through my ears as my eyes slowly opened. I used my hands to push myself off the ground.


    “Misty!?” A voice called. There were shuffling feet as Maggie appeared out of the darkness. “There you are!” She looked down at my dress and gasped. “I had one rule. Don''t get dirty!!” Maggie walked over to me and started to dust my dress off. She was mumbling under her breath about the queen. “Why the hell are you out here?” She asked me.


    “There was this tree-” I started but when I turned around to show her, the tree was gone. Maggie looked at me like I was crazy.


    “Whatever. Let’s go, the ball is about to start.”


    I walked into the ballroom and saw my whole family in their seats. I sat on my throne, on my left was Mac, and on my right was Blake. My throne was gold with light blue cushions, that were soft and bouncy. I looked over to Mac and gave a little wave.


    “Misty. Why are you late?” My mother said, looking down at me. Before I replied Maggie spoke.


    “That’s my fault, my Queen. It was hard getting the dress on,” She said bowing to her. My mother looked at her with an eyebrow raised as she sighed.


    “You''re dismissed. I think they need you in the kitchen,” She said, shooing her away with her hand. Maggie bowed again and left the room. My mother looked over at Elijah nodding her head.


    “Let the guest in,” She said. Elijah nodded walking over to the ballroom entrance, he pulled the handles letting in a soft glow of the lights as the doors opened. There were sounds of people chatting as Elijah cleared his throat. The sound faded and they all looked at him.


    “Welcome everyone, Please be careful as you enter the room,” He said, stepping aside to let them in.


    Mac looked at me and motioned for me to smile with her hands. Looking back at the crowd, I nodded and gave my best smile.


    There were echoing sounds of voices and shuffling feet. My mother smiled and stood from her throne.


    “Hello everyone!” she said as the voices slowly went quiet. “I am so happy that you all made it!” I started to tune her out, as my eyes scanned the room, looking for one redhead. I looked all over until my eyes landed on him. His emerald eyes locked with mine, and my smile grew wide. My heart started pounding so loudly that I swear my family could hear it. He gave a small wave as his fox tail wagged behind him. I looked over next to him, seeing his father. His father was a short man. He had bright curly orange hair, green eyes, and a beard that came to his lower neck. He was on the bigger side and wore a blue suit with golden accents. On his right shoulder, there was a blue cape that went to the floor. He had on his golden crown with green gems. The golden accents on the suit looked like small roses with thorns.  Aiden had on a similar suit, minus the cape. He had fluffy orange hair and bright emerald green eyes. He was a couple of inches taller than me. What stuck out the most was his orange fox tail and ears. Most of the people of Floreaki are hybrids, like foxes, wolves, deer, bears, and many more.


    My mother continued talking as her speech came to an end.


    “Again, thank you all for attending. Kingdoms from afar, welcome to Bakari! Please enjoy the music and the wonderful food the cooks have prepared for you all today!” She curtsied with a soft smile. The crowd dispersed, separating into groups. My mother sat back down on her throne as she glanced at us.


    “You all are dismissed,” She said. With a wave of her hand, we all stood. I walked up to Mac with a smile as I examined her dress. Mac was one of four quadruplets, the other two being Blake and Dylan. Mac looked exactly like me. It was like looking in a mirror. She had on a pastel pink, puffy dress with an off-the-shoulder style. It had different shades of pink flowers at the hem.


    “Hey! You look so pretty! That dress suits you sis,” I said brightly. Mac giggled as she spoke,


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    “Thank you, you look beautiful as well,” she said softly, “So, are you going to see Aiden? I think he’s looking for you,” She said with a smile. A light pink color crept onto my face as I glanced around the room.


    “He is? Where?” I said, trying to find him. Mac giggled as she pointed across the ballroom. I followed where she was pointing and saw him. He was with his father, talking to my older brother James. I smiled, giving a small thanks to Mac as I headed his way. My heels clicked against the floor as I passed by all the guesses. I was stopped in my tracks as someone stood in front of me.


    “Princess Misty! A pleasure to see you,” A guy said as he took a sip of his wine.


    “Oh, King Rocco. The pleasure is all mine!” I said with a smile, “How is Terraqin doing? I haven’t visited in a while,” I asked. Terraqin is the Rock kingdom, there are not a lot of plants there, they are only around the palace. King Rocco started to talk to me about how the kingdom was doing. I glanced past his shoulder looking at Aiden. I tried my best to listen to the King but all I could focus on was him. It’s been a year since I’ve seen him and I miss him more than anything.


    “Please excuse me, but I need to talk to someone,” I said, pausing Rocco mid-sentence. I walked away from him, my eyes locked on Aiden. His emerald eyes met my hazel eyes, and it felt like time stopped. My heart started beating faster in my chest as I walked up to him. I smiled looking up at him,


    “Aiden, hi,” I said softly. Aiden gave me a big smile as his tail wagged behind him,


    “My lady,” He said as he took my hand, kissing it. My cheeks flushed a light shade of pink as I giggled. “You look absolutely stunning, Misty,” He said, looking into my eyes.


    “Thank you, Aiden. You don''t look too bad yourself,” I smiled. Aiden chuckled as he let go of my hand.


    “Well then, I’ll leave you two to it,” I looked over, seeing my brother James who was standing there the whole time. He smiled at me as he looked over at Aiden. He winked at him and gave him a small nudge on his shoulder.


    “Do it,” James said as he walked away.


    Aiden nodded as he looked back at me with a smile. I looked back and forth between them, confused. Aiden noticed and spoke.


    “It’s nothing. Do you want a drink?” He asked as we walked over to a table with food, snacks, and drinks.


    “Sure!” I said with a smile as I watched him pour me a glass of blue punch.


    I took the glass from his hands, taking a sip.


    “So, I heard that you were late. How come?” Aiden asked me. I paused as I recalled the events that happened an hour ago.


    “Oh, um. I was just in the garden. Lost track of time!” I said with a smile. I was scared to tell him what had happened. Honestly, it felt like a dream, I’m not even sure if it happened.


    “Of course you did,” He chuckled, “You tend to do that,”


    “Hey! You do that to Aiden!” I said, giggling. “Remember that time when I came over to the palace? And we went to our secret hide-out?” I asked with a smile.


    Aiden smiled brightly as he looked at me.


    “I do. We talked for hours that night. It wasn’t until my father came that we realized it was past midnight,” He said laughing. I started to laugh as well. After a couple of seconds, the laughing stopped.


    “You know…” Aiden paused, “I missed you a lot. All I could think about was you,” He said looking at me. My face went red as I looked at the ground, not being able to make eye contact with him.


    “Yeah, I missed you too,” I said, stuttering. I looked up and smiled at him.


    All of a sudden, the ground started shaking. Dust and bits of the palace fell from the


    Roof. All the guests started to panic, grabbing onto each other for balance. Aiden grabbed onto my waist, holding me closer to him. I grabbed onto him tightly as I looked around with fear. Then all the windows shattered as the guests screamed and cried out for help.


    My vision started to blur as tears fell down my face.


    “Misty! We need to go!” Aiden said as he held on to me. I looked up at him as black smoke poured through the broken windows.


    “What’s happening?!” I screamed as I held onto him. The ballroom floor was filled with the dark smoke. Everyone started to run as the guards tried their best to calm everyone. I looked down at my feet, seeing the smoke slowly crawl up my legs.


    “What the hell?” I said under my breath. Aiden looked at me and followed my gaze.


    “Misty, we need to go now!” He said as he grabbed my arm, trying to pull me to the ballroom door. He tugged on my arm as he looked back at me.


    “Misty?” He said, looking worried.


    “I can’t move!” I said looking at the smoke. I looked around the room. My eyes landed on my sister Alice, I saw how she couldn’t move either. Next to her was Alex and


    Lolo. I noticed all my siblings were trapped in place. It was like someone was holding us down. The smoke started to climb higher up my body until it reached my face.


    It covered my mouth as I tried to scream, but no sound came out. I looked over at Aiden in horror, begging for help.


    “Misty!” He screamed as he went to grab me. But then I was lifted into the air. I looked down scared as the smoke entered my mouth and into my lungs. I struggled to breathe as tears covered my vision. Soon after, everything went black.